Describing a vain, last-ditch effort to resolve a hopeless problem, often borne out of desperation. The measure normally has little to no chance of preventing an adverse result, and is often little more than a token display of action by the responsible party.

Refers to the effort by authorities to use sea water to flood damaged reactors at the Fukushima Nuclear plant in March 2011. Although no viable options presented themselves in the face of impending meltdown, the gambit to use sea water had little chance of success and in fact ran the risk of producing flammabile hydrogren as a byproduct.

From fifty five yards out and with the wind in their face, the team's decision to kick a last minute field goal was little more than sea water in the reactor.

When the near-bankrupt company tried to find a buyer for its worthless assets, almost all observers saw the move as being no better than running sea water through the reactor, and that insolvency was unavoidable.